The original supervising artist from Ghostbusters 2 recently contacted me with information about the painting from Ghostbusters 2. It seems there is someone out there who is profiting from the sale of Vigo paintings and is spreading false information to make it seem like it is all okay.

Glen Eytchison wrote:In 1989 I produced the character Vigo the Carpathian for the film Ghostbusters 2. As you’ve mentioned, there seems to be some confusion out there as to how Vigo was created, and who was involved. Hopefully, this note will answer some of those questions.

First some background...From 1979 through 1995 I was the Director of a production called the Pageant of the Masters. The Pageant is a theatrical production based on “Tableaux Vivant”, or living pictures, which has been performed every summer since 1933 in a 2662 seat amphitheater in Laguna Beach California. The production combines recreations of notable artworks with a live symphony orchestra and live narration. Since becoming affiliated with the Pageant, I’ve produced “living picture” effects for a number of feature films (such as GB2, The Devils Advocate and The Wild Wild West), Broadway shows (such as Hairspray and The Will Rogers Follies), and numerous television shows, commercials and live special events. Most of the personnel involved in theproduction of the set for Vigo came from my Pageant crew.

The CompositionI was asked to attend a meeting at ILM with the films Visual Effects Supervisor Ned Gorman, and Chief Visual Effects Coordinator Dennis Muren. In that meeting we discussed the various techniques used by the Pageant for creating living pictures and it was decided that I would produce the “practical” elements of the Vigo set. I was also asked to work with the ILM crew on the design of the source painting that would be our reference for building the effect.

I was given a file containing copies of 30 or so paintings produced by the ILM team that had been rejected by Director Ivan Reitman, mostly for being “to Conan...”. Back in Southern California, I assembled a team to start researching what a real Carpathian warlord from the period would wear into battle. ILM sent an animator to work with us, and we began developing a composition with each key element painted onto a separate layer of acetate. We took the layered composition, and all of our research, to a meeting with the ILM team, director Reitman and Executive Producer Michael Gross. We discussed our approach, the director made some subtle adjustments, and we had approval of phase 1.

Next, I took the layered acetate, all of the reference material and photos of Wilhelm von Homburg to an artist named Lou Police. Lou created the oil painting that would be the final reference for Vigo the Carpathian. Photos of the painting were sent to all involved, and the piece was immediately approved.

ProductionMy primary responsibility was to ensure that the Vigo that came to life and interacted with the cast, looked exactly like the Vigo in the oil painting. Originally, a scaled up version of Lou’s oil painting was to be used in the early scenes, and our 3D recreation would be used later, but we soon realized this was not going to work. Ultimately, we decided to use the painting as reference, create our 3D set with Wilhelm, use Pageant techniques to light the set so it would appear flat, and then photograph the set. The photograph was then scaled, and aged using traditional techniques. This scaled photograph is the “painting” that is used for the first part of the film. When it came time to shoot the live action sequences, we simply placed Wilhelm back into the set and replicated the lighting used for the photo.

The set and costume were created in our shops in Laguna Beach. Wilhelm was not available so ILM sent us a full body cast, which served as a stand in while creating the costume. The entire package was shipped to ILM for the one week shoot.

The CrewThe crew was assembled from my staff at the Pageant of the Masters. The set was designed by Richard Hill, and constructed by Richard, with John Clancy. Costume design and construction was by Skipper Skeoch and Marci O’malley. All sculptural elements in the set, such as the skull foreground, were carved by Judy Parker. The set and costume were painted by David Rymar and Leslie Turnbull. Diane Challis Davy provided additional supervision of physical production. Make up and prosthetics were designed by Tim Lawwrence and Michael Smithson from ILM. Michael was the make up artist for the shoot. Producer Michael Gross, Production Designer Bo Welch, and ILM’s Ned Gorman were with us constantly, providing direction and support.

SummaryIt’s come to my attention that there are individuals on the web selling prints of Vigo. These individuals are also saying that they have the blessing of the artist that created the work. This is not true. I have never given anyone permission to sell copies of Vigo, for any reason. Further, as I’ve noted above, there were at least a hundred people involved in the creation of Vigo, from the production, from ILM, and from my team. No one person can claim to be “the artist” who created it.

The “painting” used in the film is owned by ILM and is hanging in their lobby. The original oil by Lou Police is hanging in Ivan Reitman’s home. All of the research, preliminary sketches, the acetate comps, photographic reference and production documentation are in my possesion. There are no other legitimate copies of Vigo in circulation.

Hopefully this will clear up some of the confusion. The painting was done by Glen Eytchison's team and was the only one used in the film. It is the one that is hanging up in ILM's office. The smaller oil painting was done by Lou Police and was only used as reference to how the final product would look. Glen oversaw all the work, and was perhaps the only person credited in the final credits for the production of the painting.

VERY cool... thanks for posting... and tell glen thanks for clearing up the misinformation! it's always great to have a first-hand account of what went down. it all pretty much goes along with what was said by gross in the cinefex article... and i've always been curious if it was an actual painting or an altered photographic print.

any chance of glen making the reference/concept material available for the fans? might make for a pretty cool exclusive for gbfans... the DEFINITIVE visual history of vigo: from concept to realization.

I'm sure he would love to show off the stuff he has related to Vigo. We talked about working on something about 6 months ago exclusive for Ghostbusters Fans. Unfortunately he is extremely busy working on projects and I don't want to pester him. Most of the material needs to be scanned, and there are a lot of photos in slide form.

Also... He is extremely upset about the prints being sold. I have a feeling that because the seller he was talking about is allowed to sell at Prop sites and another Ghostbusters site that he is going to be reluctant to provide the invaluable source material. Kinda sad that the greed of a few can hurt the rest of us.

Thanks for sharing this with us. It's a shame that someone is basically stealing from him and his team by selling these prints. It sure would be great to be able to have a poster-sized copy of Vigo, but I'd only want it if it was legit and had the approval of all those involved in producing it.

AJ Quick wrote:Also... He is extremely upset about the prints being sold. I have a feeling that because the seller he was talking about is allowed to sell at Prop sites and another Ghostbusters site that he is going to be reluctant to provide the invaluable source material. Kinda sad that the greed of a few can hurt the rest of us.

The email from Glen is probably enough for RPF mods to ban the vigo prints... might be a good idea to post it there.

I unfortunately have given up on the RPF. Feel free to post it, or PM the Moderators with that information. I have talked at length to one of the moderators who was all for the cause, but now they simply don't care. They have seen other emails directly from Glen and say that the seller of the prints has permission from someone else. (That someone else is probably not even related to the painting or should have no say).

This was great info, couldn't see that in a DVD feature. Now if only the guys who touched up the Vigo image in the new video game would speak about adding the slime river and the weird halo around Vigo's head.

Something most probably forget (because in was in the original script only) was it was a self portrait. Vigo was sure in love with himself!

this is interesting...though it brings up a question in my eyes (perhaps it's been answered some where else) but on the PRF he states he has permission from the creator of the piece...since that's not the case...where is the source for the prints from?

Henners wrote:this is interesting...though it brings up a question in my eyes (perhaps it's been answered some where else) but on the PRF he states he has permission from the creator of the piece...since that's not the case...where is the source for the prints from?

Henners wrote:this is interesting...though it brings up a question in my eyes (perhaps it's been answered some where else) but on the PRF he states he has permission from the creator of the piece...since that's not the case...where is the source for the prints from?

One of two contradicting explanations:

1) It was taken by a member of the RPF, who was not credited and as such, may not even exist.2) As AJ remarked, taken straight from a high resolution photo by khunter, visible below:

If we want to get technical, even if the seller had permission from the artist who did the piece - they don't have the authorization to resale the artwork because their work was work for hire for Columbia at the time of the film.

Michael Gross could give you all the permission in the world to sell t-shirts with the no-ghost logo on them, but that still doesn't clear you of the copyright held by the studio.

Also, Prince Vigo currently hangs in one of the ILM hallways at the Presidio - not the lobby. He's just down the hall from the Scolari Bros. and one of the Slimer animatronics... Since I know a ton of you guys are OCD with details.

Neither one are the ones that are being reproduced illicitly and sold on Ghostbusters.net & The RPF.

I assume, if permission was given.. it was given by David Rymar. He was the one (along with Leslie Turnbull) who painted the background, and carved set. The person (He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named) is under the assumption that the final product from the film was completely painted by David Rymar and no one else. He doesn't even acknowledge that it is in fact a photograph (not a painting).

Glen has all source material still in his possession. I assume he even has the negatives / stills that the original Vigo was printed from. He just told me that David Rymar never had access to any final products or in production materials. Its all Glen's department as the facilitator of this entire project for ILM.

In response to your post. I thought I would clarify what you are seeing in these two photos...

First, the photo entitled Vigosmall.jpg is the oil painting by Lou Police that we referenced when creating the larger set. The composition that was created on acetate was seen only once, at the meeting with Reitman. It is very primitive, almost cartoonish, and was only intended to narrow down the options as we moved forward with the piece. The reason for creating the piece in layers, was to allow the director to add, remove or relocate the various components. One background layer was full of flames, he took it out. I had the moon peeking through the clouds in the sky. He cut it. It ended up working very well because in the end it was Reitman's composition, and he approved it on the spot.

That piece was taken to Lou Police and he created the oil painting in your post. Since then, it's been in a drawer in my studio, and no one has ever seen it.

Regarding the other photo (img0564ex8.jpg) ... The piece leaning up at the left is the scaled up and aged photo that was used in the film, and is now hanging at ILM, and it is the painting that is being sold around the web. This photo was taken during filmed tests of Vigo coming to life and speaking from within the set. The reason the photo is in the room, is that the aging that had been done to the photo changed it slightly, and we were repainting the 3D set to match it up again. We needed the photo there to reference.

I plan to share some of my materials with the group in the very near future. Just need a little time to shoot some of the flat artwork.

Glen, it's a honour to have you aboard, I just wish it were under better circumstances.

Heck, I'd amost invite you to join Ghostbusters.net so you can post things in your own words directly to the seller in question, but I wouldn't want to wish any additional headache on you.

And thank you for the info, and the production art that you've already supplied... it's been great seeing this info about the prop, a shame the apparent shot of Vigo climbing out of the portrait was never used in the final film.

Curious. A while back a friend sent me a vinyl poster of Vigo he had made for me.I was thinking of raffling it off for a charity at an upcoming convention this year.Would it be a problem doing that, seeing as how I'm not making any money off of it?